Solving the PENNDOT Bike Ped Coordinator Crisis

Following up to an earlier post PENNDOT's Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator positions are in crisis. The 12,000 employee agency has reassigned the State position to planning and is currently vacant, while each district has assigned bike ped coordinator duties to a district employee as an extra task.
















The Bicycle Coalition expects PennDOT to fill the state position quickly as required by federal law.

Additionally we would like for PennDOT to consider alternatives to the district coordinators. A possibility that has been talked about for a long time is the option of two or three"circuit riders".
Fully qualified full time bike/ped coordinators who would divide their time in multiple districts.

Philadelphia Hires New Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator

Mayor Nutter’s Office of Transportation and Utilities has hired Charles Carmalt for the position of Pedestrian and Bicycle Coordinator. Thank you Mayor Nutter for fulfilling this campaign promise and filling this position!

Carmalt joined the Office with 35 years of transportation planning experience. His career included both private and public sector work. For the last nine years, he ran his own consulting firm where his projects placed special emphasis on the needs of pedestrians and bicyclists. As a volunteer he has been an active member of the NJ Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Council and as the Lawrence Township representative for the Mercer County Bicycle and Pedestrian Task Force.

His role at the City will be to coordinate all activities that impact the quality of the urban environment for pedestrians and bicyclists. His responsibilities will range from assisting on the Planning Commission’s forthcoming Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan to helping build relationships with outside agencies like the Philadelphia Parking Authority in order to expand and improve our bicycle parking options.

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia heartily welcomes Charles to this new position and we look forward to working with Charles to make Philadelphia a more bicycle-friendly city.

The Time is NOW for a Bicycle Friendly Philadelphia

The Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia released its 2008 Agenda for a Bicycle Friendly Philadelphia today, outlining the policy actions that it is requesting Mayor Nutter take to make Philadelphia the nation's most bike friendly city. Philadelphia could easily become a green city by encouraging more people to get out of their cars and use their bikes for short trips and errands. With its 225 miles of bike lanes and racks on nearly every SEPTA bus, Philadelphia has the beginnings of being a bike-friendly city.

In addition to establishing a bike share program,which the Coalition heartily supports, Mayor Nutter must take a number of important steps to make Philadelphia's streets safer for residents and visitors who want to bike for work, shopping or recreation. The highest priority steps Mayor Nutter should take are to:

• Establish a Department of Transportation,
• Create and fill a new position for a full-time Bicycle/PedestrianCoordinator,
• Develop and implement a new City-wide Bicycle Plan,
• Close the gaps in the existing bike lane network with particular attention to creating bike friendly streets that connect the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers, and
• Create more bicycle parking on city streets and garages.

Read the full Bicycle Coalition's 2008 Agenda for a Bicycle Friendly Philadelphia